Create smart Searching In NSMutableArray similar to matching in XCode

Question

Im adding searching in UITableView. I want to add smart searching like used in XCode

For example

Keyword

Smarting

Should match with

SmartSearching
SmartWatching

I also want to make bold to matching letters in resulting UILabel inside UITableView

XCode used this kind of search too

I'm attaching a snapshot from XCode

How we can achieve this

Note: This is not normal searching.

Could be related: [UITableView filtering](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39738518/uitableview-filtering) — Ahmad F, Jul 31 '17 at 07:36
@AhmadF: Perhaps I am overlooking something, but I cannot see a solution to this specific problem in that Q&A. — Martin R, Jul 31 '17 at 07:39
@MartinR my bad, flagging a question will automatically mark as a "close", I should add it manually. Also, you're right about it; It *could* be -somehow- related... — Ahmad F, Jul 31 '17 at 07:43
[Comparing strings with tolerance](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2344320/comparing-strings-with-tolerance). Or implement your own algorithm, it shouldn't be too difficult. — Willeke, Jul 31 '17 at 07:52
You can have an idea there: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44412710/how-to-searchpredicate-content-from-list-like-xcode-suggestion/44413753#44413753 — Larme, Jul 31 '17 at 08:10
https://stackoverflow.com/q/44412710/5215474 doesn't working it matches me wrong cells. That code is not acceptable. Also i need to have swift version please do reopen the question @MartinR — Saranjith, Jul 31 '17 at 09:03
Did you try both answers that I linked to? Please provide a *concrete* example if it does not work for you. — Martin R, Jul 31 '17 at 09:08
Then *why* did you tag the question with both [objective-c] and [swift] originally? — Martin R, Jul 31 '17 at 09:09
Thats by mistake i have changed it just after getting objective c answers — Saranjith, Jul 31 '17 at 09:10
" doesn't working it matches me wrong cells." My code works last time I checked. It's a solution similar to the one by @Martin R. The "matches wrong cell" make me clearly think about a bad dataSource implementation. — Larme, Jul 31 '17 at 09:52
Unless you have custom functionality that requires you to implement a custom solution, see if you can avoid re-inventing the wheel and reference or use one of the libraries below: https://github.com/mnbayan/AutocompleteTextfieldSwift https://github.com/EddyBorja/MLPAutoCompleteTextField — cohen72, Jul 31 '17 at 07:44
Im getting wrong cells in search results. im trying to correct it now. But code i need to have is in swift — Saranjith, Jul 31 '17 at 11:14

Berlin Raj · Answer 1 · 2017-07-31T10:08:47.273

//Filter within Tableview delegate functions

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
{
    return 1;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF contains[c] %@", SEARCH_TEXT];
    NSArray *filtered = [arrayCategories filteredArrayUsingPredicate:predicate];
    return filtered.count
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
    UITableViewCell *cell = (UITableViewCell *) [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:@"CELLSEARCH"];
    NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF contains[c] %@", SEARCH_TEXT];
    NSArray *filtered = [arrayCategories filteredArrayUsingPredicate:predicate];

    [cell.textLabel setText:filtered[indexPath.row]];
    return cell;
}

It's better to FILTER before (and change the array), rather than doing it EACH time in `tableView: numberOfRowsInSection` and `tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:`. — Larme, Jul 31 '17 at 09:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '17 at 08:24

I think this is what you are looking for

let arr = ["job","smart","hating","eating","luck","cup",]
let charset = CharacterSet(charactersIn: "smarting")
for str in arr
{
    if str.lowercased().rangeOfCharacter(from: charset) != nil
    {
    print(str)
    }
}

OUTPUT

smart hating eating

Anurag Sharma · Answer 3 · 2017-07-31T09:23:10.147

In case if you want to show results from array. You can use NSPredicate. You need to add all strings in array and take another array for showing filtered results like:

//filter content from array:
- (void)filterContentForSearchText:(NSString*)searchText {

    NSPredicate *resultPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF contains[c] %@", searchText];
    YOUR_FILTERED_ARRAY = [[YOUR_ARRAY filteredArrayUsingPredicate:resultPredicate] mutableCopy];

}

In case you have array of dictionaries then just replace the filtration line with this one

YOUR_FILTERED_ARRAY = [[YOUR_ARRAY filteredArrayUsingPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"(name contains[c] %@)", searchText]]mutableCopy];
//name is the "key" and search text is the matching value!

REFERENCE for predicate.

Apple API Doc for filteredarrayusingpredicate.

SWIFT 3x:

//filter content from array:
func filterContent(forSearchText searchText: String) {
    let resultPredicate = NSPredicate(format: "SELF contains[c] %@", searchText)
    YOUR_FILTERED_ARRAY = YOUR_ARRAY.filter { resultPredicate.evaluate(with: $0) }

}

YOUR_FILTERED_ARRAY = YOUR_ARRAY.filter { NSPredicate(format: "(name contains[c] %@)", searchText).evaluate(with: $0) }

Create smart Searching In NSMutableArray similar to matching in XCode

For example

3 Answers3